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Ties to Business Elevate Top Candidates in Trump’s Search for a Running Mate
Donald Trump is narrowing his running mate choices and the business ties of some leading candidates are helping them move up his list.
It also helps that they are aiding Trump’s own search for new moneyed donors.
The two main examples of this dynamic are Ohio Senator JD Vance and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.
Both (like Trump) spent more of their careers in the private sector than in politics. And both saw their chances improve as they provided a bridge between the Trump operation and, respectively, Silicon Valley and the energy industry.
Private sector experience also appears to be an advantage in itself in the eyes of Trump, who has long gravitated toward CEOs.
“He probably knows more about energy than anyone I know,” Trump said of Burgum during a recent rally in New Jersey, adding cryptically, “so get ready for something.”
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks with North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum at a campaign rally in Laconia, NH in January. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) (The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Also worth noting: Both Vance and Burgum managed to overcome past criticism of Trump to enter his orbit this year.
Several recent veepstakes records consistently placed both men at the top of the list. Other frequently mentioned candidates include figures like Senators Marco Rubio and Tim Scott, who have less direct experience in the business world and entered politics early in their careers.
Of course, with Trump being Trump, the list of candidates can change quickly, and the former president has a full month to make his choice after saying he wants to wait to announce until the Republican convention, which begins July 15 in Milwaukee.
On a Fox News interview Thursday, Trump continued to provoke the lawsuit. He reiterated that he would likely announce it during the convention and that, although he won’t say, “I have a good idea” who it will be.
In February, Trump said from his vice presidential search: “I want people with common sense because there are so many things going on in this country that don’t make sense.” Representatives Vance and Burgum did not respond to requests for comment.
How Vance and Burgum Leveraged Their Business Ties
Vance is currently Ohio’s junior senator and is best known for authoring the memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” before being elected to the Senate in 2022.
What he talks about much less – is entirely omitted from his official Senate biography – is living in San Francisco and working as a venture capitalist for Peter Thiel at Mithril Capital.
But that experience proved to be a crucial advantage during the veepstakes.
Vance recently leveraged his connections — notably one with billionaire investor David O. Sacks — to help orchestrate a Silicon Valley fundraiser for Trump that made inroads into the deep blue area and raised around US$12 million for the Trump campaign.
The story continues
Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio) takes the stage as he is introduced by Donald Trump during a rally in Ohio in March. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) (Scott Olson via Getty Images)
“These are some of the top AI innovators in that room,” Vance said. during a follow-up appearance on Fox News after fundraising.
Vance also confirmed during the conversation that he is being vetted by the Trump campaign, noting, “I’m very interested in helping [Trump] figure out whatever that looks like.”
The story is similar for Burgum, the little-known governor of the nation’s 47th most populous state who has nevertheless emerged as a leading candidate.
He became close to Trump after his short presidential campaign ended, with Burgum quickly endorsing and going all-in on Trump.
But the business connections he brought seem equally important.
Burgum is, according to Forbes, worth more than $100 million after him led a North Dakota software company in the 1980s and 1990s, to an IPO and then an acquisition by Microsoft (MSFT) in 2001.
He remained at Microsoft as a senior vice president until 2007, before serving as a venture capitalist. He then jumped into politics and won the North Dakota gubernatorial election for the first time in 2016.
Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota traveled to New York in May to support former President Donald Trump during his criminal trial for covering up hush money payments. (Justin Lane/Getty Images) (Pool via Getty Images)
Burgum established close ties to the energy industry during his tenure as governor of North Dakota and helped deepen links between the Trump campaign and figures such as Continental Resources founder Harold Hamm, who led a series of oil officials to donate to Trump.
Hamm himself has given a flurry of money to Trump-aligned organizations, including a $614,000 check in March to the former president’s joint “Trump 47” fundraising committee, according to federal election records.
It was also Burgum who allegedly orchestrated a controversial fundraiser where Trump according to the Washington Posttold oil executives they should raise $1 billion for their campaign because Trump would reverse dozens of Biden’s environmental policies.
On your own Fox News appearance in recent daysBurgum answered questions about his vice presidential chances and was a bit flattering by saying that Trump works harder than the former tech CEO he used to spend time with.
Other candidates
In addition to Vance and Burgum, another business-aligned candidate recently emerged as a somewhat surprising candidate: Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty.
He had a long career in private equity before becoming Trump’s ambassador to Japan and winning the 2020 Senate election.
Hagerty populated your social media feed with campaign appearances and a recent New York Times update on the race for running mate listed him in the second tier of contenders (Burgum and Vance were in the top tier).
Trump’s team has long downplayed the veracity of the various public lists of vice presidents. Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes said in response to questions for this story, as he has said many times during the proceedings, that “anyone who claims to know who or when President Trump will pick a vice president is lying, unless that person’s name is Donald J. .Trump.”
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) speaks at the U.S. Capitol in 2023. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) (Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images)
Other frequently mentioned candidates in the vice presidential race are figures such as Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson and Representatives Byron Donalds and Elise Stefanik.
A candidate from the business world, Vivek Ramaswamy, dropped out of the list in recent weeks. Trump is considering Roivant Sciences founder – and former Trump 2024 rival – potentially for other functions if he wins.
Ben Werschkul is the Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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